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Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

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Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#71

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

No. Hell no. Elected office is a sacrifice and a duty. It is not a way to make a living. Thats how you end up with dinosaurs working those halls for 68 years.

I have a better idea.

1)Fix salary at 2x poverty wage.

2) make house members 1:50,000 representation to their county (yes that means the house would explode to 8000 elected officials)

3) tax any earnings above their pre-office historical income avg, at say 98%. No ones lives off the taxpayer and no ones lives off favors given.

If they want to serve. They serve. The country would be far better off if congress shut down because they have DAY jobs to perform to keep their families fed.

If they cant make ends meet with their basic salary, they dont know sacrifice. If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office.

Stop paying for busy bodies and start electing hardworking, everyday americans

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#72

Post by pm90 »

ShamelessC wrote: post #56
redanddead wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or our doctors! Imagine if most kids would answer "congressperson" instead of doctor or lawyer. More competition might help that sector.

I mean, lots of kids want to become president which at a certain age is basically code for "I want to be a political leader and don't know how the system works in its entirety". Does that not qualify?

Not really. Presidential aspirants are more about personal glory than serving people. It’s the people who like to serve the public that should ideally be involved in politics.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#73

Post by ryan_lane »

zw123456 wrote: post #21

CEO's and officers of corporations have to disclose their trades of their company stock. It is only fair that the public officials making the laws that govern the operations of said corporations should have to disclose all their stock activities as well, since almost any law they pass could potentially impact almost any company.

CEOs and officers don't just have to disclose their trades, they have to trade on schedules.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#74

Post by pm90 »

hourislate wrote: post #47
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

I don't know if you realize this but most of the folks who get elected to Congress are already very wealthy and those that are not become wealthy very quickly. And this might come as a surprise to you but the Democrats in Gov are far more wealthier than the Republicans...Go figure the party that says they represent the small guy...lol...

You can be personally wealthy and want to support the “small guy”. It is not a contradiction.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#76

Post by atlasunshrugged »

ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

Yes, I 100% agree. I've mainly been in tech throughout my career with a few times working in gov here and abroad but have above average familiarity with how the current system works in Congress. Unfortunately, there is no constituency that is ready to vote for higher congressional salaries now. However, while there salaries are one thing, I think the caps they get on # of workers, square feet of office space, and total budget they get in both the House and the Senate is far more dangerous. These offices are criminally understaffed, you've got kids with 1-2 years of work experience, most of it probably in opening letters for the same person they're working for now, managing portfolios for freshman Congresspeople that have serious potential impacts for the nation. There are some fellowships that have sprung up to assist and some federal agencies lend people out to committees but it is nowhere near enough and the repercussions are going to be serious, esp for tech which is now truly on the radar for regulation but which very few congresspeople or their staffers understand.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#77

Post by animal_spirits »

gkoberger wrote: post #33
zw123456 wrote: post #21

CEO's and officers of corporations have to disclose their trades of their company stock. It is only fair that the public officials making the laws that govern the operations of said corporations should have to disclose all their stock activities as well, since almost any law they pass could potentially impact almost any company.

This is already the law. Since the "Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012", they already have to disclose any stock trades made by themselves, a spouse or a dependent. Because this hasn't fixed the issue, and most don't seem to have any shame, these recent laws (originally coming from Ds but Rs have their own version) prevent them from trading individual stocks while in office.

I think the problem with this act is AFAIK it states they have to report the trades 45 days AFTER they make them. Not before they make them. So they all just wait until 45 days later when it’s not relevant anymore. New news cycle, people forget

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#78

Post by atlasunshrugged »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #71
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

No. Hell no. Elected office is a sacrifice and a duty. It is not a way to make a living. Thats how you end up with dinosaurs working those halls for 68 years. I have a better idea. 1)Fix salary at 2x poverty wage. 2) make house members 1:50,000 representation to their county (yes that means the house would explode to 8000 elected officials) 3) tax any earnings above their pre-office historical income avg, at say 98%.…

If you're going to this extreme why not keep the system as is with the only change being that we no longer have elected officials but rather citizens of voting age chosen at random in much the same way a jury is selected to serve for a term? No competitions, no prestige, just a duty that people are randomly asked to do to serve their countries.

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#79

Post by revscat »

Bostonian wrote: post #2

As I've said before, publish the trades of politicians and Fed officials online every evening. If they make hundreds of millions trading on information the public is unaware of, disseminate that information quickly. Politicians say things they know are untrue, but they will trade in what they perceive to be their interests. "Some of the most egregious stock trading in Congress occurred when several Senators dumped la…

What benefit would that serve? We already know this is happening. So we would know it... more?

Re: Congress Needs to Stop Day Trading, Says Sen. Mark Warner

#80

Post by vineyardmike »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #71
ISL wrote: post #28

Members of Congress make ~$174k/yr. [1] It will be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that we should pay better (and demand better) for a job with that much responsibility. Otherwise, a congressperson will be forever tempted to align their incentives with service to causes other than their electorate. I'm fairly certain we should be paying our elected officials at least as much as our football coaches. [1] https://w…

No. Hell no. Elected office is a sacrifice and a duty. It is not a way to make a living. Thats how you end up with dinosaurs working those halls for 68 years. I have a better idea. 1)Fix salary at 2x poverty wage. 2) make house members 1:50,000 representation to their county (yes that means the house would explode to 8000 elected officials) 3) tax any earnings above their pre-office historical income avg, at say 98%.…

> If they cant make ends meet with their basic salary, they dont know sacrifice. If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office.

This is how you get bad candidates.

> If they dont know sacrifice shouldn't be running for office.

The poster might like AOC then. But something tells me they're not a supporter.

> Stop paying for busy bodies and start electing hardworking, everyday americans

TBH not sure i trust the "everyday american" to make really big complex decisions for a job. People who are familiar with such decision making process make a lot more and may not be "hardworking, everyday americans" to this poster.

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